Many electronic graphics design applications allow a user to paint one or more brush strokes with a pixel paintbrush tool. A typical graphics design application generates the effect of a real-world paint brush with a rubber-stamp process. For example, a mask or template of the brush provides the outline of a single stamp. As the user indicates the stroke trail, a stamp defined by a brush mask is repeatedly applied along the trail and filled with the indicated coloring to create the appearance of a brush stroke. There are also other non-rubber stamp based methods, e.g. a watercolor diffusion simulation or a skeleton based stroking process, for generating the appearance of paint brush strokes on digital surfaces.